New Moon
by alizarin
Summary: Story of Remus J. Lupin.
1. 1 New Moon

Frank Pendle had been having a bad year. Brenda had left him sometime in February. (though to be quite honest Brenda hadn't "_been there_" for the better part of seven years) She'd finally put into action what 3 years of cheating and abuse had been steadily brewing-- divorce. Frank was a volatile man, she'd known that when they'd married; why didn't she know that he only got so angry because he cared so much?

Ah screw it, the bitch wasn't worth getting upset about. They hadn't even had sex for the six months before her leaving. In fact, the only thing that had told Frank she was gone was the note and the lack of food in the fridge.

_"Gone to mother's." _

Well she hadn't gone there; Frank had checked. One night in a storm of drunken fury he'd thrown a brick through his mother-in-law's window causing the police to descend with sirens and ending with an overnight in jail. Brenda never came to bail him out.

A month later Frank lost most of his savings in a poker game gone bad; there were some guys who played for keeps and at that time Frank couldn't afford -not- to pay. Of course he then lost his job followed by his flat and finally in early April found his way to Uncle Bert's broke-down cabin in the woods.

Most of his life Frank had been told that his Uncle Bert was a little crazy, a little loony, and that he'd lived in a secluded cabin far away from any villages or towns. Once when Frank had been a little younger he'd gotten in trouble with the local gang and had needed a place to lie low for awhile; Uncle Bert had taken him in and proved to be a quite sane and enjoyable (if not a little kooky) senior citizen. Now that Frank had no place else to go Bert didn't seem too bad an option and might actually brighten up his so far crummy year.

- - - - - - - - - -

It had been late when Frank finally arrived. Almost tired beyond thought from having hiked so far for so long in the dark he just flung the door open without announcement and then ... and then...

Frank didn't remember what else had happened that night and quite frankly he didn't want to know. What could have possibly compelled him to shoot Uncle Bert six times in the chest? Maybe it was the same thing that told him to dig a pit, throw Bert and the gun in, and then try and drink away the wrongness of it all.

Frank lived most of April in a fevered haze, eating up all of Bert's pantry and root cellar; he'd begun to feel hungry all the time and no amount of food or drink seemed to fill the void that was threatening to tear him apart inside. When May finally rolled around he considered that maybe enough time had gone by for him to go back to the real world now, and that maybe Brenda had come to her senses and realized how much he really did love her. Then he could get his job back and this nasty business of Uncle Bert could just stay buried and no one need know what had happened.

But Frank stayed and he didn't know why. There was something wrong, more so than the rotting corpse of his father's dearly departed brother and more than the entire bottle of whiskey he'd managed to down in one day. There was a burning in his gut that wasn't the alcohol, something wanted out of him, the air smelled mustier, dirtier, and Frank fancied that he could sense the animals that lived in the forest. His head had ached all day and even Mr. Jack Daniels couldn't keep his brain from pounding now that the sun was going down, he didn't want to think about it... he didn't want to think. No more thoughts. ... nothing.

pain.

painpainfearpainpainpawspain

painpainpawsclawsclawing

howlinghowlhairpainpainpain

painfearfearlessprimalpainkill

teargnashkillpainkillpainkill

painkillkillkillkillkillkill.

kill.

Next morning Frank woke up in agony.

He looked like he'd fallen into a fire, one side of his face and his hands were red as blood, the skin peeling away like crisp roasted chicken skin. What the hell had he done last night, how pissed had he gotten? Outside and naked, bits of dirt and leaf stuck to all the blood that covered his torso and hands. Using the outer wall of the cabin for support he slowly pushed his way off the ground without using his hands and decided to try and find Bert's first aid kit.

But Frank never made it through the front door.

The overwhelming color was dark dark red, but if one had searched closely they could've seen yellow and green too. Looking small, the object of interest really wasn't all that tiny as most of him had been spread throughout the little cabin causing little trails of crimson to lead outward from the source like scouting expeditions gone horribly wrong. What remained however was enough for Frank to fetch the shotgun and end the agony of his hands and face.

After all, Brenda was never going to come back to him after this now was she?


	2. 2 New Moon

Grete Samsa-Lupin looked fondly over her two sons wrestling in the front yard. Remus had Rommie pinned below him with dirt smearing both their faces and a torn shirt-sleeve somehow in the mix. She'd ignore their antics a little longer, turning six warranted a blind eye didn't it? Besides Fenris would just spell them clean and mended before the party began.

The entire Lupin clan was coming in for the event, flooing, brooming, and apparating their way from Northern France all the way to her father in-law's cabin. It really was amazing how quickly a person could adapt, Grete reflected. Only six years ago she washed dishes by hand, dreamed of buying her own phone, and was dating a mysterious man named Fenris that promised her excitement and an easier life if she would only marry him. Now she stood in a yard that was quickly being filled with people dressed in purple, scarlet, midnight blue (and one odd sparkling orange) robes. Gifts were drifting through the air to land on an ornately carved oak table where fairy lights were charmed to float lazily around a three tiered birthday cake whose letters "Happy 6th Birthday Remus & Romulus!" shimmered and blinked on and off while circling each layer like train of words circling up and down a mountain. And all these eccentricly dressed individuals had equally peculiar names to match.

"Welcome Aunt Ulrica, hello Uncle Rafe, how is your leg these days?"

"Amoux, where's your brother Quillan I'm going to need your help taking down the decorations after the party. "

"Faolan!!! Get away from that! Where is your mother!?!"

"Adolphine will you please look after the food for me? I'm afraid my husband will start without us."

Grete gave her annoyed teenaged neice an indulegent smile as Adolphine huffed in protest and rolled her eyes. These Lupins were a strange lot even aside from being wizarding; there was this preoccupation with family and their name-sake animals. Jokingly everyone referred to themselves as "the Pack" but more often than not the amusing pseudonym rang true.

Being accepted into this family had proved no easy task especially as Grete had had no magical skills, but now that her boys were turning six and had shown signs of being magical she felt awash in the glow of love that her in-laws seemed to produce. Her own father-in-law Lyacon had hugged her in welcome upon flooing in this morning, which was much unlike the brusque snort that had greeted her first meeting with him several years prior. The two young cubs now tusling in front of her being what had finally broken through Lyacon's hard shell of indifference towards her. He'd even gone as far to name the boys himself, and what else would befit two twinned children of Lupin better? Looking down at two unrepentant pairs of blue eyes Grete sighed. She really had had her heart set on Samual and Theodore in the beginning but she never could deny Fenris anything.

Remus, with a skinned knee, grinned up at his mother with a toothy beam of boyish joy and all dark thoughts floated from her mind. His slightly more petulant brother squirmed beside him bouncing back and forth from side to side biting his lip in anticipation. He could see the ever growing pile of presents on the table and he itched to tear away the wrapping paper to expose the doubtless prize inside. Their Lupin relatives always gave such interesting gifts, much better than the ordinary stuff Grandma Samsa would give them for Christmas.

This was only the third time Remus, Romulus, and Grete had been subjected to a full reunion of the Pack and Fenris had warned that things might get a little out of hand, especially if Uncle Rudolph brought out the Firewhiskey and Gilly Water as he was prone to do. When the last relative had exited the fireplace commenting on how, _" much nicer these new soot resistant robes are_!" the festivities finally began.

Fenris came from behind and enveloped his wife in a bear hold, marking her waist as his property while smelling in deeply the scent of her hair. God, **this** woman! How could a man love this much? She was the true magic in this yard, this slight creature in his arms, the one with the azure eyes that graced his children and the shoulders that while being slender could bear his troubles and protect him from all the world as long as he remained in her presence. The sky darkened but Fenris didn't feel the chill, all he could feel was the joy in this day, being surrounded by his family, celebrating the product of the love he and his wife shared; these two boys.

- - - - - - - - - -

One pile soon became two, one of discarded brightly colored paper and the other an accumulation of toys, books, and candy; all across the property witches and wizards smiled dotingly at the younger generation remembering their own hellion days. One wizened warlock flapped his twinkling-tangerine colored robes and wiggled until a bottle fell out from under his concealment pouch, Rudolph intended to help his fellow seniors remember their adolescent amusement...

After it had been established which punch bowl Rudolph had spiked (and it had been spelled to shock anyone not of age) the party got going indeed. Music started up and witches and wizards of all generations started dancing creating a bopping whirling canvas of color, their robes swirling in time to the music and laughter could be heard deep within the forest. Soon the twins and their cousins grew bored of their parents' and grandparents' actions. Laying in a pile they looked up at the stars; Romulus's head flopping on his brother's tummy trying to find a comfortable position.

_"'ey! Watch what you're doing stupid!",_ Remus wheezed past his brused midsection.

Other than his unhappy stomach the rest of him was quite warm saddled next to his cousin Silas, he could hear his mother's laugh and his father's contended chuckle and truthfully he didn't mind it that his icky brother was laying near on top of him. No one in the world was as close to Remus as Romulus was, they went exploring together, they shared their lunches at school, and once they had found a toad and kept it their bedroom until their mom had found out, it had been their secret. Nothing was ever going to separate them, they'd promised each other _forever_.


End file.
